Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (reading an ebook TXT) 📕

a minute, Jo. You'll be all right in a short time, I promise. " He pushed the hair back from her face with a cool hand.

Jo was staring at him. "You!" she said suddenly. "You made me take my clothes off! You stood and watched me while that man was playing the flute. You said he was blind, but he wasn't, he was watching too—"

A frown crossed Sam's face. "You've been dreaming, Jo, " he said. There was an edge to his voice.

"Oh, no, I remember clearly. You ordered me to take off my clothes. " Her voice shook. "You had given orders that no one come in, hadn't you? I expect everyone in the castle knew what you had planned for me. Did that make you feel big, my lord? Did it? Is that how you get your pleasure?"

Jo scrambled across the bed away from him and stood up.

She tightened the belt of the bathrobe. "What a shame that someone came!"

"Dear God, she's still in the past, " Nick murmured. "Sam, it's happened to her again. For God's sake, wake her up properly!"

"Jo?" Sam ignored him. "Jo, calm down. Don't you recognize me?"

"Of course I recognize you!" She pushed her hair back off her face. "You're—" She stopped short, groping for a name. A second later she put her face in her hands, shaking her head from side to side. "You're not William, " she whispered between her fingers. "You're not William, you're not... you're not. "

Sam caught her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face. "Who am I, Jo?" he said. His eyes held hers.

"Sam, " she whispered. "You're Sam. "

"And who is this with me?" He was still holding her wrists.

"Nick. " Her reply was scarcely audible.

He released her. "Fine. I suggest we all have a cup of coffee. Nick, rather than snooping in here, perhaps you could do that much for us?" He rounded on his brother harshly as Jo walked slowly over to her mirror and stood before it, staring at her face. Numbly she picked up her comb and began to draw it through her hair.

With a shrug Nick went into the kitchen. His hands were shaking as he picked up the kettle and held it under the tap.

Behind him, he did not see Sam walk swiftly down the hall to the living room, where he slipped the cassette into his pocket and then picked up Jo's dress and her bra and panties from the carpet and stuffed them behind a cushion on the sofa. When Nick appeared he was standing at the open French window staring out across the square.

"How is she?" Nick slid the tray onto the low table.

"Confused and disoriented. " Sam did not turn around. "Give her a little time and she'll be fine. "

"She needs help, Sam. If this is going to happen spontaneously, for God's sake! She needs psychiatric help. "

"You seem to forget, Nick, that that is what I'm here for, " Sam said, turning at last to look at him. "I warned you both what might happen if she got involved in this. Now all I can do is help. And first I want to see to it she doesn't go near that quack Bennet again. "

"He's in the States. "

"Good. " Sam smiled enigmatically. "Long may he remain there. " He raised an eyebrow. "You haven't told me, incidentally, what you are doing here. I thought you were in Paris until the weekend. "

"I changed my mind. That was a pretty damn fool trick to play, sending Judy after me. What was the idea exactly?"

Sam sat down. "It was her idea. I just gave her the name of the hotel. Where is she now?"

Nick shrugged. "I told her to get lost. "

"I see. " Sam's gaze narrowed. "And you thought Jo would be interested to hear all this?"

"I don't give a damn if she's interested or not. I was worried about her. I saw that article Pete Leveson wrote and I thought she must be going out of her mind to give him the story. You have seen it, I suppose?"

"I've seen it. And she didn't give, Nick. He took. " Sam stretched his legs out in front of him slowly. "I must say I think it was singularly naive of her to talk to him at all, but she's not herself these days, as we can all see. I want you to leave her alone, Nick. " He sat forward suddenly. "Do you understand me? I want you to keep away from her. She can't cope with any more hassle. "

"I don't think that's for you to say, Sam. " Behind them, Jo had appeared silently in the doorway. She was wearing jeans and a deep-red silk shirt, unbuttoned at the throat. Her face was still very white.

Sam climbed to his feet.

She looked from one to the other. "I keep getting the feeling you two are trying to run my life for me, " she said. "I'm very grateful and all that, but I don't need it. "

"You do need help, Jo. " Sam's voice was gentle. "And I think you realize it. That was why you called me this morning. "

Jo bit her lip. "I wanted someone to talk to. But full-scale analysis, no. "

Sam grinned back amiably. "You couldn't afford me, love, not for full-scale analysis! But seriously, I do want to help you. I have to go home tomorrow. I'm giving a lecture on Friday and another on Monday at a postgraduate conference, but after that I can come back, and I want you to agree to see me then, just to talk things through. "

She frowned. "I won't need to, Sam. Really. "

"If you really don't need to, we'll forget it, but if you have any more dreams, any more crying babies, then you must call me. Promise?"

Jo sighed. "All right. I promise. "

"I'll give you my number in Edinburgh so that you can reach me there as